On Free Water, Free Tuition, Free Healthcare, Bernie Sanders, and Rand Paul

Get a free E-book on Bernie Sanders here.

I was at an event last night and a speaker said something to the effect of "Only in America" -- or let's say under capitalism -- do they make you pay for something free like water, as she sipped her bottled water... 

… bottled water that has been contained with machinery, filtered, and bottled -- among a host of other things -- by human beings.

…bottled water that was at one time in a river, or lake, or mountain, or spring, or wherever they get water from (the beauty of the division of labor in free-market capitalism is that I don't have to know that stuff).

In part, she wanted specialized knowledge to be free.

Deer Park employees, among the many other water companies' employees, are people who wake up every day provide a vital product to the billions of people who chose not to be in the water business. Numbers of trucks which run on un-free gasoline deliver this vital source for life every single day to the market place.

Gone are the days of carrying a pail of water to the river, scooping up as much water as you can, and carrying it back to the hut village. Gone are the days of getting water from the well.

The water companies have gotten so good at this that they provide water in different sizes -- from little bottles that can fit in your palm, to bigger bottles that be put on water coolers; these bottles come in size swig, saturate, and submerge. Gone are the days of size pail and bucket.

They have gotten so good at it that water comes with flavor.

And yet they want this to be free.

Fine, I'll grant you, but only for the sake of the argument, that water is free. What I won't grant you is that the labor should be free. Further, I know that you won't either.

Much of that was my immediate thought but I didn't say anything. It wasn't the right forum. It would have taken the event over the allotted time. The only thing I thought in addition to that is that working for free involuntarily is what we used to call slavery. 

But I know what they mean: Whether it is free school or free water, advocates will say workers will get paid through taxes. But that only pushes the involuntary labor to the taxpayers.

Why should I involuntarily use my labor to pay for someone else's stuff?

That is an ethical problem for Democratic Socialists.

But I want to put another thorn in the side of Democratic Socialists.

Going back to the subject of water companies, why should someone like Coca-Cola, the Dasani water owners, be mandated by the government to operate a large part of their company for F-R-E-E.

Am I shifting definitions? Don't I know that Democratic Socialists would, through taxpayer dollars, pay a company to operate their water business.

Oh, so you want to get into subsidizing big businesses and corporations. Gee, I thought that was what you were protesting in the first place.

But let's take it one step further. Why should we think of only existing businesses as free providers of this vital product? Why not apply our thinking to future entrepreneurs? The little guy. Should the little guy provide this service F-R-E-E?

Should we subsidize the little guys future water business? Should he not operate by profit-and-loss to judge the success of his business?

Rand Paul had a similar experience.

He was asked a question about Bernie Sanders' solution to Social Security.

I like Rand Paul's answer. He admits up front that you are not going to like his solution. Furthermore, he gives the alternative: He can pretend like everything is okay and promise you everything you want and destroy the country in the process.

By destroying the country, he probably means destroying our dollar through hyperinflation. The Federal Reserve would have to create so much money that our dollar would become worthless.

Democratic socialists, like Bernie Sanders, would solidify our economic doom.

[Editor's Note: Regular readers of this blog should know that I was coming up with a "Why You Should Not Vote For Bernie Sanders" series. 

The reason I am doing this is because a number of my (young) friends are falling for the rhetoric and promise of Democratic Socialism. It (often rightly) rails against big business.  It (almost) never rails against the government framework which made big business possible. 

It is embodied in the persons of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Unfortunately, they're both wrong.

My posts will be informed by the Thomas Woods' new E-book Bernie Sanders is Wrong, other informed economic articles, and my personal reflection, as was the case with the first post above.

This is Part 1 of many…and I mean many.]

My Interview with Gov. Gary Johnson - Libertarian Presidential Candidate - On Al-Qaida, Obamacare

We talked about Syria, al-Qaida, Medicare, Social Security, and Obama. Read about it by clicking the links below.

Libertarian Party Nominee Gary Johnson: ‘A Quarter of the Syrian Rebels are Al-Qaida’ || Politic365

Libertarian Nominee Gary Johnson on Obamacare: ‘A Torpedo in a Sinking Ship' || Politic365

Ron Paul: 'Government is a giant, blood-sucking parasite on our otherwise healthy economy'

From His Texas Straight Talk Column:

It's not that nearly half of Americans are dependent on government; it's actually more than half.  If one includes not just people on food stamps and welfare, but also seniors on Medicare, Social Security and people employed by the government directly, the number is more like 165 million out of 308 million, which is 53%.

Government Dependency Will End in Chaos || Rep. Ron Paul

How to Eliminate Social Security and Medicare

If we want to protect the value of individual human life, particularly in old age, when it is most vulnerable, we must reverse direction and start dismantling Social Security and Medicare, two potentially deadly collectivist institutions. We must restore to the individual the responsibility and the power to determine his own future through forethought and saving. The individual must have his own individual property with the freedom to use it for his own well-being, as he sees fit. Government officials must be barred from the process.

How to Eliminate Social Security and Medicare

Perry: Social Security is ‘Ponzi Scheme'; Romney: It’s Not a Failure ‘By Any Measure’ | CNSnews.com

In 2010, however, the Social Security system ran a deficit, not a surplus. Social Security benefit payments equaled $701.6 billion, according to the Social Security Board of Trustees Report, while payroll taxes for Social Security equaled only $637.3 billion.

Perry: Social Security is ‘Ponzi Scheme'; Romney: It’s Not a Failure ‘By Any Measure’ | CNSnews.com

Senator Lee Questions Obama's Threat to Withhold Social Security Benefits

Why are senior citizens at the top of the list? Could this be a political ploy?

The Government Owes You Nothing - Legally

Structural problem #5 with Social Security is that the government owes you nothing, but you owe it something:

Many Americans believe that Social Security is an ‘‘earned right.’’ That is, because they have paid Social Security taxes they are entitled to receive Social Security benefits. The government encourages this belief by referring to Social Security taxes as ‘‘contributions,’’ as in the Federal Insurance Contributions Act. However, the Supreme Court has ruled, in the case of Flemming v. Nestor, that workers have no legally binding contractual or property right to their Social Security benefits, and those benefits can be changed, cut, or even taken away at any time.

Excerpted from Chapter 17, Cato Handbook for Policymakers, 7th Edition (2009).

Benefits of Social Security Privatization to the Poor

It lifts poor out of poverty:

The higher returns and benefits of a privately invested system would be most important to low-income families, as they most need the extra funds. The funds saved in the individual retirement accounts, which could be left to the children of the poor, would also greatly help families break out of the cycle of poverty

And:

Similarly, the improved economic growth, higher wages, and increased jobs that would result from an investment based Social Security system would be most important to the poor. Moreover, without reform, low-income workers will be hurt the most by the higher taxes or reduced benefits that will be necessary if we continue on our current course. Averting a financial crisis and its inevitable results would consequently be most important to low-income workers.

Excerpted from Chapter 17, Cato Handbook for Policymakers, 7th Edition (2009).

Structural Problem #4 with Social Security

It disproportionately effects blacks and other minorities:

Private investment would pay low-income workers significantly higher benefits than Social Security can pay. And that does not take into account the fact that blacks, other minorities, and the poor have below-average life expectancies. As a result, they tend to live fewer years in retirement and collect less in Social Security benefits than do whites.

Excerpted from Chapter 17, Cato Handbook for Policymakers, 7th Edition (2009).

Structural Problem #3 with Social Security

Excerpted from It's Your Money:

Finally, there is no choice under the current system. You are forced to participate in a retirement system with very little return, no ownership, and no inheritability.

Structural Problem #2 with Social Security

Excerpted from It's Your Money:

Second, because there is no ownership, there is also no inheritability. When you and your spouse pass away, the money simply disappears. A reformed Social Security system should ensure that the money you pay into Social Security your entire working life goes to your loved ones.

(I think they meant heritability.)

Strucutural Problem #1 with Social Security

Excerpted from It's Your Money:

First, as confirmed by the Supreme Court in 1960, Americans have no ownership rights to the money they pay into Social Security. The federal government has no contractual obligation of any kind. What you get back—and, indeed, the age at which you qualify to receive benefits—is entirely up to the 535 men and women in Congress. That is simply wrong. It is your money. You work hard for it. You should own it.

For a full-length essay on this topic, read John Attarian's essay "What Property Right To Benefits?"

Video: Cato Addresses State of the Union 2011

Video: Social Security Scam Robs Elderly By Convincing Them They Are Dead

Talk about sticking it to the elderly. Who is afraid of a default on social security when there are people in the world scamming old people like this?

(For those who don't know, The Onion is a satirical news site)

Gary North on Social Security

And I've recently written about social security here.